2
Egyptian hieroglyphics
The
Pharos/Summer
2016
at Temple
of Kom Ombo.
Peter Unger
The Pharos Lighthouse. Illustration by Jim M’Guinness, 1999
Editorial
The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha
Richard L. Byyny, MD, FACP
GREETINGS
The Directors of Alpha Omega Alpha Society in presenting to the members of this first number of The Pharos
bespeak for it a kindly reception and express the hope that
it will serve as a “Beacon” and worthy exponent of the
aims and purposes of our society.
There has been a demand for a medium of exchange
through which the views of individuals, reports from
chapters, and other interesting information could be made
available to the entire membership.
The Pharos will be published semi-annually in the fall
and the spring.
The society is most fortunate in having Mrs. William
W. Root as managing editor. Through many years of association with the Founder of Alpha Omega Alpha, her
lamented husband, she has gained an intimate knowledge
of the organization of the society and familiarity with all
its activities throughout its entire existence that ensures
the success of this new venture.
—Walter L. Bierring, president1
The Pharos/Summer 2016
A
lpha Omega Alpha first published The Pharos in
January 1938. The inaugural greeting was from
Walter L. Bierring, then-President of AΩA. The
first page contained the AΩA key, recognition of founder,
William W. Root, MD, and the AΩA motto.
Since its first issue, The Pharos has been a leading scholarly journal that represents medicine and humanities.2
Ernest S. Moore, MD, published “The Early Days of
Alpha Omega Alpha” in The Pharos in May 1944, wherein
he introduced the context under which Alpha Omega
Alpha Honor Medical Society was established.
The medical educational pot was boiling briskly in 1900.
Fundamental changes in medical education had begun
to make themselves felt. Many schools had been, or still
were, commercial ventures. Admission requirements were
elastic; instruction largely by lectures and text-book study;
laboratories generally inadequate, sometimes none.3
This was before Abraham Flexner began his reform of medical education, and prior to medical school
accreditation.
3
The Pharos of AΩA
Treasures of the Nile, on papyrus.
4
The Pharos/Summer 2016
The medical students were…a primitive group. They were
emotionally hair-trigger men, quick to resent an affront,
and prompt to avenge an injury. Their behavior in halls
and classrooms was rough and boorish. They were loyal
to their friends and to each other. Class spirit ran high,
and class clashes, often of riotous proportions, were of
weekly occurrence. They respected neither authority nor
property. Whenever a class was lined up for supplies for
a class period, more or less roughhousing was present.3
However, several of the students were primarily and
sincerely interested in becoming doctors. Moore went on,
“They respected and admired superior studentship.” 3
Root was different than most students of that era.
He was 35-years-old, had earned a Bachelor of Science
degree in chemistry from Cornell University, had taught
science, and had been a graduate student in chemistry at the
University of Chicago. He was shocked by the behavior of
the raucous students, and found cheating to be repugnant.
He and some of his fellow students decided to provide
leadership by establishing Alpha Omega Alpha Honor
Medical Society in 1902 to foster scholarship, honesty, and
to promote high medical ideals.
They wrote in the first Constitution of AΩA:
The mission of AΩA is to encourage high ideals of
thought and action in schools of medicine and to promote
that which is the highest in medical practice.4
They defined the AΩA motto:
To be worthy to serve the suffering.4
They established that membership in AΩA was to be
based on both scholarly achievement and professional
conduct. Root defined the duties of AΩA members:
...to foster the scientific and philosophical features of the
medical profession, to look beyond self to the welfare
of the profession and of the public, to cultivate social
mindedness, as well as an individualistic attitude toward
responsibilities, to show respect for colleagues, especially
for elders and teachers, to foster research and in all ways
to ennoble the profession of medicine and advance it in
public opinion. It is equally a duty to avoid that which is
unworthy, including the commercial spirit and all practices injurious to the welfare of patients, the public, or
the profession.5
The Pharos/Summer 2016
Root and his colleagues provided the leadership and
recruited exceptional leaders in academic medicine to join
them in forming AΩA.
For nearly 115 years, election to Alpha Omega Alpha has
been an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professional excellence and achievement, scholarship, leadership,
service, teaching and professionalism.
The Pharos
The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical
Society is named after the Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria.
It is unknown how this symbol was chosen, but we know
that our journal was to serve as a “Beacon” and worthy
exponent of the aims and purposes of the medical society.
The Pharos first featured the lighthouse of Alexandria on
the cover in 1949.6
The Pharos lighthouse in Alexandria was one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world built in Alexandria,
Egypt in 279 B.C.
Ninety-five percent, or 380,000 square miles, of
Egypt lies within in the Sahara desert of North Africa,
with the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red
Sea to the east.
The Nile River, the longest river in the world at 4,258
miles, has made Egypt and the surrounding area habitable
by man. On either side of the river is a band of fertile land.
The Nile, which terminates into the Mediterranean Sea,
has shaped Egypt’s geography, molded its civilization, and
determined its destiny. Circa 450 B.C., Herodotus wrote,
“Egypt is the Nile and the Nile is Egypt.” 7
In 3,200 B.C., the Egyptians had developed a hieroglyphic language for communicating and archiving information and knowledge. They recorded hieroglyphics in
stone, on pottery vessels, and on papyrus for those who
could read to have access to learning and knowledge.
Northern and southern Egypt were unified in 3,150
B.C., and a series of Egyptian dynasties, with pharaohs
followed. The first pharaoh of the first dynasty was Narmer.
The first Egyptians worshiped Gods who exemplified
aspects of nature and represented deities that the people
felt held power over them.
Each god had an individual identity with a name and
unique set of characteristics. These gods determined
everything that happened to the people—good and bad.
Each god was something in the natural world and had a
physical reality.
Early Egyptians built magnificent temples and palaces
for their gods. They provided the gods with servants and
priests, to provide for their every need.
5
The Pharos of AΩA
Relief with offering to the deity, exterior corridor, Temple of Sobek and Haroeris, Kom Ombo, Egypt.
Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images.
They created special images of gods in the form of a
man, woman, or animal with the body or head representing the animal god. The Pharaoh would stand before
the god, address it with proper name, and acknowledge
its power and greatness in the form of various prayers.
They then offered the god the very best of all things that
humans desired, including food, drink, clothing, jewelry,
and perfumes.
Since the sun rose daily in the east, and provided light
there was the sun god, Amman, whose temples were located on the east side of the Nile. And, because the sun
set in the west, the tombs for afterlife were located on the
west side of the Nile.
authored the Iliad and the Odyssey,
around 850 BC, wrote in the
Odyssey, “in medical technology the Egyptian leaves the
rest of the world behind.” 8
And, Sir William Osler
noted, “we must come to
the land of the Nile for the
The god Imhotep, in bronze,
26th Dynasty (664 - 525 B.C.).
Universal History Archive / Contributor
The beginnings of the medical profession
The roots of Western medicine are thought to have
begun in ancient Egypt. Homer, the Greek poet who
6
The Pharos/Summer 2016
origin of many of man’s most distinctive and highly cherished beliefs.”9
The most famous Egyptian physician and medical professor was Imhotep, meaning “he comes in peace,” who
lived in Egypt around 2,700 B.C.
Osler wrote that Imhotep was, “the first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity,” as
he was practicing medicine, surgery and treating illnesses
many generations before the famous and revered Greek,
Hippocrates.
Ancient Egyptians, led by Imhotep, recorded details of
their medical procedures on papyrus, and made important
observations in human anatomy. They performed surgeries, set fractured bones in place, performed amputations,
sutured large gaping wounds, and bandaged injuries and
wounds. They immobilized injuries using splints, plaster,
and tape, and incised and drained abscesses. They knew
the properties of many plants that could be extracted and
used to treat maladies—many of which are still used today.
They were well rounded and had knowledge of magic, astronomy, philosophy, rituals, and formulas.
Imhotep and others are thought to have conceived of
the human body as a system of channels or vessels to distribute air and fluids from the heart, lungs, kidneys, and
digestive tract. They began to understand physiology and
the importance of blood.
Imhotep used the standard history of the problem and a
physical examination including inspection, palpation, and
auscultation to acquire the clinical information for diagnosis and prognosis. He and his team looked for recognizable
clinical patterns to determine the cause, and select an appropriate treatment. They would decide if they could treat
the illness or trauma, simply provide care and comfort for
the patient, or not treat the patient at all.
Imhotep diagnosed and treated more than 200 diseases. He learned by getting ideas or concepts from areas
outside of his role as a physician. He was a poet, a priest,
a judge, engineer, prime minister for the Pharaoh Zoser,
and an architect. He designed and supervised the building
of the first pyramid, the step pyramid of Saqqara. He was
believed to be the only mortal to reach the position as a
true and full god.
The Pharos and Alexander the Great
Homer wrote in the Odyssey, “Out of the tossing sea
where it breaks on the beaches of Egypt, rises an isle
from the waters; the name that men give it is Pharos.”8
This is where the Nile flows through a delta and into the
Mediterranean Sea.
The Pharos/Summer 2016
Step Pyramid of Djoser (or Zoser), Saqqara, Memphis, Old
Kingdom, Dynasty III. De Agostini / W. Buss
The island of Pharos was a strip of white, sparkling,
calcareous stone washed all around by the sea. It had a
causeway connecting the island to the delta.
Alexander the Great succeeded his father, Philip II, to
the throne of the Kingdom of Macedon at the age of 20.
He conquered countries throughout Asia and Northern
Africa, and created the largest empire of the ancient world.
He was undefeated in battle.
He advanced on Egypt in 332 B.C., where he was considered a liberator, and deified as the King of Egypt.
7
The Pharos of AΩA
Alexander founded 20 cities that have his name, most
east of the Tigris. The first, and greatest, was Alexandria,
Egypt, in 331 B.C.
According to one rendition, Homer appeared to
Alexander in a dream and recited lines from the Odyssey
about the island of Pharos. Plutarch then wrote:
Alexander left his bed and went to Pharos, which at that
time was an island lying slightly south of the Canopic
mouth of the Nile….He no sooner cast his eyes upon the
place than he perceived the advantages of the site. It was
a tongue of land, not unlike an isthmus, whose breadth
was proportional to its length. On one side it had a great
lake and on the other the sea, which there formed a
capacious harbour.10
Alexandria’s harbor held more ships than any other
port in the world, was a center of world commerce, and
was the capital of Egypt for more than 1,000 years.
Alexander observed that the harbor near the island
of Pharos provided the only safe anchorage along the
Mediterranean coastline. There was no typical landmark, and numerous treacherous limestone reefs near the
shore. A beacon for incoming ships was needed. Thus,
he ordered the world’s first lighthouse—The Pharos—be
designed and built.
Construction of The Pharos was begun by Ptolemy I in
299 B.C., and finished by his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus,
in 279 B.C. The tower was designed and built by the
architect Sostratus, who used large blocks of stone made
up of three stages. A lower, square section 240 feet by 100
feet, sat on a stone platform with a central core and a long
ramp leading to a door. The middle section was an octagonal tower, and a towering cylindrical section topped
off the lighthouse. All totaled, the Pharos was 450 feet tall.
On the top, there was an open cupola where a continuous fire burned. A large, curved mirror, thought to
be of polished bronze, was used to project the fire’s light
into a beam that reflected sunlight during the day. The
light was reported to be visible day and night, as far as
29 miles away.
The Pharos was the first lighthouse in the world, and
the highest man-made structure in the ancient world,
other than the great pyramids at Giza. It became the
model for other lighthouses for centuries, and remained
in use for 1,500 years.11
Two earthquakes—one in 1303 A.D., and 1323 A.D.—
reduced the Pharos to rubble.
8
AΩA’s beacon
The November 1949 issue of The Pharos stated, “It
seems appropriate to adopt the ‘Ancient Beacon of the
Mediterranean’ as the Pharos of our Society, a fitting
symbol of the spirit and purposes of Alpha Omega Alpha.
It was with great forethought and foresight that AΩA’s
journal, The Pharos, took its name from this ancient
beacon. Like the great light that once shone forth at
Alexandria signifying light, truth, knowledge, learning,
wisdom, worthiness, duty, hope, strength, scholarship,
vigilance, integrity, reason, and clarity of vision, so does
The Pharos serve as a beacon for the medical humanities—humanness, medical history, ethics, literature, law
and politics, art, poetry, music, language, philosophy,
and culture.
It is with this spirit that we continue to produce The
Pharos 78 years after it was first published. Like the original Pharos, AΩA’s journal will continue to guide the future
of medicine, and will shine well into the future.
References:
1. Bierring WL. Greetings. Pharos Alpha Omega
Alpha Honor Med Soc. 1938 Jan; 1(1): 1.
2. Luce JM, Byyny RL. The evolution of medical specialism. Perspect Bio Med. 1979 Spring; 22(3): 377-89.
3. Moore ES. The Early Days of Alpha Omega Alpha.
Pharos Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Med Soc. 1944 May;
7 (2): 1,4.
4 Root W. Alpha Omega Alpha Constitution. 1902
Oct 29.
5. Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, AΩA’s
History. Accessed at http://alphaomegaalpha.org/history.html.
6. Pharos Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Med Soc. 1949
Nov; 13(1); cover.
7. Wilkinson T. The Nile: Travelling Downriver
Through Egypt’s Past and Present. New York: Vintage;
2015.
8. Homer. The Odyssey. CreateSpace Independent
Publishing Platform; 2015.
9. Osler W. The Evolution of Modern Medicine: A Series of Lectures Delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation, in April, 1913. Accessed at Gutenberg.
org; May 23, 2016.
10. Harris WV, Ruffini G, editors. Ancient Alexandria
between Egypt and Greece. Columbia Studies in the
Classical Tradition. Boston: Brill; 2004.
11. Clarie TC. Pharos – A Lighthouse for Alexandria.
Portsmouth (NH): Back Channel Press; 2009.
The Pharos/Summer 2016